One
of the world’s
all-time greatest female discus throwers, Fania Melnik
set a World record of 210’8”/62.22 meters in
her international debut at the 1971 European
Championships. She dominated
the Discus event for seven years, holding
the number one World ranking
from 1971 to 1977—the third longest
World’s number one streak in women’s
track and field history.

At the 1972 Munich Olympic
Games, Melnik won the Discus gold
medal, bettering her World mark by
more than two meters and resetting the
Olympic record three times, with a final
toss of 217’11”/66.62 meters.

During the next four years, Melnik
topped her own World record several
more times. Although she managed
only a fourth-place finish at the 1976
Olympics in Montreal, she had her best career throw that
year, a toss of 70.50
meters—making her the first woman to
break the 70-meters mark. In 1977 she
won the first World Cup Discus competition
in Düsseldorf, Germany.